{"id":27488,"date":"2016-08-06T02:01:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-06T02:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/american-accuses-congo-officials-of-unlawful-27488\/"},"modified":"2016-08-06T02:01:45","modified_gmt":"2016-08-06T02:01:45","slug":"american-accuses-congo-officials-of-unlawful-27488","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/american-accuses-congo-officials-of-unlawful-27488\/","title":{"rendered":"American accuses Congo officials of unlawful arrest, torture"},"content":{"rendered":"

{An American security contractor is accusing two top-ranking Congolese officials of ordering his detention and torture, declaring in a lawsuit that they demanded he confess falsely to being part of a plot to overthrow the country\u2019s government.}<\/p>\n

Darryl Lewis, an Air Force veteran, said in an Associated Press interview this week that he was illegally held in Congo\u2019s capital, Kinshasa, for nearly six weeks and interrogated for as many as 16 hours a day by members of Congo\u2019s national intelligence agency.<\/p>\n

Congo\u2019s intelligence chief, Kalev Mutond, and Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, \u201cacted in concert\u201d to have him detained, tortured and \u201cthreatened with indefinite imprisonment on false charges,\u201d according to the lawsuit, filed July 29 in federal court in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feared for my life from the day they captured me,\u201d Lewis, 48, said. He said he never confessed.<\/p>\n

Congo\u2019s ambassador, Francois Balumuene, said in a statement Thursday that Lewis was detained because he did not have the proper work permit. He denied Lewis had been mistreated and called his lawsuit \u201cunsubstantiated allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law enforcement authorities in Congo released Lewis on June 8 after \u201cextensive diplomatic efforts and negotiations,\u201d the lawsuit said. Lewis is seeking at least $4.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit comes amid mounting tensions ahead of November presidential elections in Congo. Opposition leaders claim that President Joseph Kabila wants to delay the vote so he can stay in power past his mandate that expires at the end of the year. The country\u2019s constitution bars Kabila from running for a third term.<\/p>\n

Congo\u2019s relations with Washington have frayed over the past year due to repeated reports that Kabila\u2019s government has cracked down on political foes and activists. The U.S. Treasury Department in June sanctioned a top Congolese police official who activists say is linked to dozens of deaths. The department\u2019s statement announcing the sanctions against Celestin Kanyama noted a \u201cpattern of repression\u201d by Kabila\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

Lewis had been working as an unarmed security adviser for Moise Katumbi, Congo\u2019s leading opposition candidate for president. Katumbi, one of Kabila\u2019s harshest critics, has been charged separately by authorities in Congo with hiring mercenaries. Katumbi and his supporters have denied the allegation and say the move is aimed at derailing his bid for the presidency.<\/p>\n

Lewis is employed by Jones Group International, which is run by retired Marine Corps Gen. Jim Jones. Jones served as President Barack Obama\u2019s national security adviser.<\/p>\n

The law firm representing Lewis, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, also was hired by Katumbi to be his Washington representative at a rate of $30,000 a month, according to records filed with the U.S. Justice Department.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, Mwamba is described as being convinced that Lewis and hundreds of other U.S. citizens had infiltrated Congo since last October to help Katumbi overthrow the government and assassinate Kabila. Lewis\u2019 military background made him especially suspect. At a May 4 press conference, Mwamba displayed as evidence a photo of Lewis holding a large machine gun.<\/p>\n

Lewis said the photo was taken in 2009 when he was working as a contractor in Kosovo. Congolese authorities must have pulled it from his LinkedIn account, he said. The photo has since been replaced with another of Lewis.<\/p>\n

Mwamba declined to comment on the specifics of Lewis\u2019 lawsuit. \u201cA Congolese who would be found to have acted in the U.S. as Lewis did in the (Congo) surely would have to explain himself before the FBI and other authorities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit said Lewis and three colleagues were \u201cstopped and surrounded\u201d by Congolese riot police on April 24 as they were driving near a political rally that Katumbi had attended in the city of Lubumbashi. They were unarmed and breaking no laws, according to Lewis. He was the only American in the group.<\/p>\n

Soon, several members of Congo\u2019s intelligence agency, who were not named in the suit, arrived. They handcuffed and physically assaulted Lewis and his colleagues, and at one point, a car door was slammed into his elbow, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

Lewis said they were taken to a \u201cfilthy, unsanitary\u201d jail in Lubumbashi and put in separate cells. He was assaulted and abused, according to the lawsuit. His bound hands were pulled up behind his back, creating painful pressure on his shoulder joints. During the night, Lewis could hear his captors \u201cbrutally beat\u201d and interrogate one of his colleagues. \u201cYou\u2019re next,\u201d Lewis said he was warned.<\/p>\n

The next day Lewis was transported to the intelligence agency\u2019s headquarters in Kinshasa. Over the next six weeks, he was questioned for long periods and deprived of sleep, according to the lawsuit. His captors gave him just one small meal a day. Lewis said his captors also began a series of \u201cmind games,\u201d such as using information about his ailing mother, to wear him down and secure a confession.<\/p>\n

Lewis was not charged with a crime before he was released.<\/p>\n

\"File<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{An American security contractor is accusing two top-ranking Congolese officials of ordering his detention and torture, declaring in a lawsuit that they demanded he confess falsely to being part of a plot to overthrow the country\u2019s government.} Darryl Lewis, an Air Force veteran, said in an Associated Press interview this week that he was illegally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2655],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-pbs-newshour"],"bylines":[{"id":2655,"name":"PBS Newshour","slug":"pbs-newshour","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2655,"name":"PBS Newshour","slug":"pbs-newshour","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27488\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27488"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27488"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}